THEY SHOULD BE OUT

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1206, 15 August 1911, Page 5

THEY SHOULD BE OUT

PAHIATUA'S OPINION, TRENCHANT SPEECH BY MASSEY. HIS AUDIENCE WITH HIM. (By Telegraph.— Special Ccyrcspondent.! , r Pahiatua, August 14. Jir. itlassey, accompanied by Mr, \V, Noswortiiy, journeyed to-day from Masyorlon to Pahiatua, slopping at Ekcta«ituia oji route, him!-nlf'', oa<lor /i lf t,IO i Opposition declares Jnni.ut moro than pleased with his \Vailarapa lour, and its results m far ns it "as gone. "We wero welt received by practically the whole of tho residents of Jastorioii," )io ;i re j 101 .( 0r - to-day, and tho meeting on Saturday evening "as one of tho most enthusiastic I have had. It is quite evident that tlicro in-s been a wonderful cliango in tho political opinion of tho district during tho past two or three years. 1 have met voores of people who were formerly Government supporters, but now say that liiey have had quite enough of tho party "TO and that in future (heir support will uq to (he Reform party." V ?* I s , «t'!«".v pleased with his lecepticm at Eketajnina, whero lie was met by Mr. I]. Herbert and others, mil enter ained at a luncheon, which was fitt ended by a number of prominent rcsinonU, and was presided over bv Mr. 33. Page, Mayor of Jikctiliuna. t iFiS n ' or thy responded io tho toast of Parliament, proposed by the chair--1 1 /n~«nvll, .«nv ll J ' Ma - ;s °y replied to tho toast ?r V,r° SPP?? 11 ' 011 proposed by Air. H. 1, Matheson, chairman of th« ~ br° llc h of tho Farmers 1 Union. , At a deputation, representpractically the whole of tho surrounding district, waited upon Mr. Massey with, a. rerpie. t t that Jie should deliver ail ad* dress there, cither during the present fcssioii or at tho time. of the election. Mr. Massey promised to comply if it should bo at all possible to do so. At Pahiatua. Political addresses were delivered in {•ho Drill Hall at Pahiatua this evening by W. F. Massey, Leader of the Opposition, and Mr. Kosworthv, member for Ashbarton. Mr. W. Mayor of , Pahiatua, presided. Over eight hundred people were present, and tho speakers wero given a cordial reception and an attentive hearing. Mr. ftosworthy, in a brief address, stated that, in accompanying Mr. Ma?«ey on recent political tours, ho had been forced to the conclusion that the socalled Liberal party, with, Sir Joseph \ i >> Qs its loader, had "shot itg bolt. 33veu .supporters of the party in power, like Mr. G. W. Forbes, ex-member for Hurunui, had said that land settle- . ment was almost at a standstill. Tho Loader of tho Opposition and his partv were prepared tu give the freehold of all the land that was required for settlement'. (Applause.) Tho Opposition desired to build up a class of small farmers,. f lho Government had taken some peculiar sflnvorsaiUts in their career, striking instances of which were Mr. M'Nab's Land J3ill, tho ICnyvett case, and the Gaming Hill. The Government had first put tha bookmaker on the racecourse, and had then taken him off again. 31c would not surprised now if thoy put him back a grain considering the way in which they had' deprived some of the outlying districts of their only race meeting in the year, (Loud applause.) In 0110 respect tho Government led tho world. Twelvo times, beginning with 1893, they had promised a Local Government Bill, but tliey had never kept their promisß yet. The Government, in fact, was &t the lowest stn«?o of .the political creation. It, had neither backbone nor policy. To-day there w*ro healthy that the people of this country were going to assert themselves, and discard the so-called Liberal party,

Mr, Massey's Specch. ~.Mr. Massey was greeted with enthusiast tic applause, lie opened by stating that, never iu his seventeen or eighteen years ( of political experience had lie seen so much interest taken in public affairs, Alter dealing with Iho refusal of the' Government to supply information in regard to tile raising of loans, ho went on to say that, in Canada, at th<e end of oacii financial year, a huge return was prepared by tile Government, and laid belore 1 nniameut. This return accounted for every cent received and expended. Something of tho tort should bo, done in this country, and if it were done it would make a, tremendous difference in tho svstem of government. No system of audit that could be devised would be as good as the return of which he had spoken, for it would enable every individual ill the country to see what was being done with his money. > Tho Opposition had been asking for tliis return for a long time, and last session they had extracted a half-promise that it would j>o furnished. They wero going to keep on asking for it until they got it. Mr. Massey then dealt with the land question on (ho lines of his address at Mastertoii. llis statement that every settler taking up land should bo given aiv opportunity to acquire Die freehold was loudly applauded. Ho stated (hat ho was opposed to a system of landlordism of any. kind—State, Native, or pnkeha. If this country was to be happy and contented in the future it must be peopled by a race of yeomen farmers, owning no_ man, as landlord. (Applause.) If the Native race was to bo saved, it must be saved by the people of work, , After traversing a number of subjects upon which lie had touched in previous addresses, Mr. Massey epitomised tho story, so fnr tis it is kuown, of tho dealings regarding' the Mokau block. Taking advantage of a conditional clause in tho Native Laud Act, tho Governmpnt had sold M,OOO acres ql' land, rich in minerals, to a speculator at 10s. 4!d. an acre. Mr. Massey told the story of the transaction in clear and pointed sentences, and tho laughter and applause which punctuated the recital seemed to indicate that tho audience fully grasped its finer points. A torrent of applause broke out as the Leader of the Opposition drove homo his point—that tho Government of the day was prepared to treat the speculator kindly enough, but had a very different treatment to mete out to the humble settler. An 'explanation by Mr. Massey of tile more important planks in the platform of tho Reform party was followed with evident interest* and was frequently applauded. Some papers in the Wellington country districts (in recent references to the Il'ino charges) had stated they wero a fiasco. In rebuttal ho described tho hearing of the charges, anjl the manner in which, as shown by the official reporl, charge after charge had been proven. "You all know," said Mr. Massey, "that big paper that comes up here called The Dominion*. It criticises the Government verv koenlv sometimes, and I don t wonder that llie Government gets angry about it, and declines to give the paper anv advertising.'' Ho added that thirtjsix members of the House hod recorded their votes in favour of tho view that Government advertising-should be distributed in accordance with'the policies or tho papers concerned. There was not a single hostilo interjection during tlw evening. An Outspoken Resolution. Mr. R. C. Ellingham proposed the fol« lowing resolution :-"Th.it this meeting accords a hcartv vote of thanks and conlidenco to tho Leader of the Opposition, Jlr Massey, for his able ajul instructive address 'anil his declaration of policy, and is clearly of opinion that (ho time lias arrived when it is in tho best interests of the Dominion that the Government should- bo turned out of office. (Loud applause.) This was seconded by Mr. C. Avery. Tho motion was carried on (ho voices Thero was a great volume of "Ayes, but not more than tliw or four "Noes. Mr. Massey thanked the audience for the manner 'in which it "had carried the most candid and out-spoken resolution which he had heard during tho present campaign. , , Votes of thanks were also passed to Mr. Nosworthy and to the Mayor.